We've taken our first look at Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, and we like what we see—but it'll be awhile before most devices get their hands on it. With the right mix of apps, tweaks, and even a custom ROM or two, you can get a lot of what promises to Ice Cream Sandwich great right now. Here's how.

Facial Recognition

The new facial unlock is certainly one of the most talked about features of Ice Cream Sandwich, but it isn't the first of its kind on Android. There isn't currently an app that'll unlock your phone using facial recognition, but previously mentionedVisidon AppLockcan unlock apps that contain sensitive information, like SMS, email, or settings using its front-facing camera. It isn't exactly the same, but the coolness factor is certainly there.

A New Lock Screen with Camera Support Built-In

Ice Cream Sandwich's new lock screen is pretty snazzy, but you can create a far more customizable lock screen with previously mentionedWidgetLocker. Not only can you add a camera button to your lock screen for quick access to your camera app, but you can add shortcuts and sliders for any app you want, and choose from a number of different themes for your slider and clock. WidgetLocker can be a bit quirky sometimes, though, so if you want a more reliable, less customizable lock screen, some ROMs (like CyanogenMod) let you add a few extra sliders for launching apps like the camera.

Swipe to Clear Single Notifications

This is a great feature, which sadly is only available if you root your phone and flash a custom ROM like CyanogenMod (are you beginning to see a pattern here? CyanogenMod has a lot of these features).

A Customizable Launcher with Resizable Widgets

The new launcher in Ice Cream Sandwich has been slightly updated, most notably with the side-to-side method of swiping through the app drawer and the ability to resize your widgets. Previously mentionedGo Launcher is the best launcher choice to replicate both of these behaviors, not to mention a ton of other customization options. If you're a LauncherPro fan, it's also worth noting that the premium version can resize widgets on the home screen as well.

Take Screenshots

Sadly, the only way to take screenshots on the phone itself is to root your phone and install an app like Screenshot It. If you don't want to root, you can install an app like No Root Screenshot It, which connects to your computer for easy screenshot taking. CyanogenMod also has screenshot taking built-in, which is really nice.

Viewing Desktop Web Pages From a Mobile Browser

If mobile pages are a bit too toned down for your taste, it can sometimes be hard to navigate to the desktop version of a site. Many alternative browsers, including our favorite, Dolphin, have a "user agent" setting built-in that lets you choose whether your phone loads mobile or desktop versions of pages. If you prefer the stock browser, many ROMs like CyanogenMod add this feature to Android's browser, too.

Save Web Pages for Offline Viewing

Personally, I found Ice Cream Sandwich's "Save for Offline" feature a little underwhelming. While saving articles for offline reading is great, it doesn't make them more "readable" like other platforms do. Of course, no built-in "save for offline" feature can really compare to the Read It Later app, which saves articles for offline use, makes them available on all your devices, and strips the page of ads and other formatting so you can focus on what's important—the text and pictures.

Data Usage Tracking

Android already has a lot of data tracking apps available in the Market, but our personal favorite right now is previously mentionedOnavo. Not only does it monitor your overall data usage and give you an app-by-app breakdown, but you can even set up warnings for when an app is hogging too much of your data. You can even restrict certain apps to Wi-Fi usage only, which is pretty helpful.

A Prettier, Full-Featured Gallery App

Android's Gallery app is far from terrible, but if you want something a bit better looking, like Ice Cream Sandwich's version, our favorite gallery replacement is definitely JustPictures. It lets you view your photos with big, pretty thumbnails, and can even connect to external services like Flickr and Facebook. If you want more of the editing features, though (and fewer cloud features), the just as gorgeous QuickPic is a great choice.

"Beam" Apps, Contacts, and Photos Between Android Phones

Last is Android's new "Beam" feature, which is pretty neat, but only available on Ice Cream Sandwich phones with near-field communication capabilities. If your phone doesn't have the necessary hardware, you can always get by with the ever-popular Bump, which lets you transfer apps, contacts, and photos between to phones by touching them together. It can't transfer as many things as Android Beam, nor does it work quite as seamlessly, but you can use it with many more phones, so it has its advantages.

None of this is to say that Ice Cream Sandwich won't be great, obviously. It's pretty difficult to replicate the smoothness and polish that Ice Cream Sandwich aims to bring to the table, but at least you can satiate your appetite with a few of the bigger features now. Got any cool apps that we missed? Let us know about them in the comments.